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kovidgoyal/kitty

📈 Trending★ 32,985PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5ActiveLicenseSetup · hard

TLDR

A fast, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator for power users who spend their day in the command line. Cross-platform and feature-rich.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((kitty))
    What it does
      Terminal emulator
      GPU-accelerated
      Cross-platform
    Tech stack
      Python
      C
      Go
      OpenGL
    Use cases
      Daily command-line work
      High-performance shells
      Remote server access
    Key traits
      Fast rendering
      Feature-rich
      Developer-focused

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Replace your default terminal with a faster, GPU-powered alternative for daily command-line work.

USE CASE 2

Set up a highly customizable shell environment with advanced rendering and layout features.

USE CASE 3

Access remote servers and run long-running processes with better performance and responsiveness.

Tech stack

PythonCGoOpenGL

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1h+

Requires GPU drivers, OpenGL support, and compilation of C/Go components; building from source is non-trivial.

GPL v3, use freely for any purpose, but any modifications or derivative works must also be open-source under the same license.

In plain English

Kitty is a terminal emulator, the application that displays a command-line interface on your screen where you type and run commands. It is built for people who spend most of their working time in the terminal and want that experience to be fast and capable. The description highlights that kitty is cross-platform, fast, feature-rich, and GPU-based, meaning it uses your computer's graphics card for rendering. The topics list shows it is built using Python, C, and Go, and uses OpenGL for graphics rendering. The README was not available in the provided data, so further detail about its specific features, configuration options, or supported workflows is not possible from the available data alone.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I install and configure kitty as my default terminal emulator on macOS/Linux/Windows?
Prompt 2
Show me how to customize kitty's colors, fonts, and keyboard shortcuts in the config file.
Prompt 3
What are the performance advantages of kitty's GPU-based rendering compared to other terminals?
Prompt 4
How do I use kitty's window and tab management features to organize multiple shell sessions?
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Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.